


That Puberty Thing

by Yojimbra



Category: Naruto
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Fluffy, Genderswap, Romance, Tsunderes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-04-20 14:52:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14263455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yojimbra/pseuds/Yojimbra
Summary: In Which Sakurai Haruno does his best to ignore the advances of the bubbly hyperactive ball of sunshine that decided that she loved him one day. Male Sakura x Female Naruto. Fluffy Drabbles. Loosely connected.





	1. Please! Eat My Bento!

For Sakurai Haruno, it was a perfectly normal day at the academy. He had arrived just in time to see his childhood friend Ino gush over that Sasuke guy and take his seat right next to him. He really didn’t get it. Sure Sasuke was a great ninja, better than him at any rate, and was tall, dark (Mysterious and Pale actually), and he could understand how someone could find Sasuke attractive. But Ino was Hot with a capital H, she could have any boy in the class if she wanted - A list of which Sakurai was sitting at the top of as commander and chief of the friend zone. 

Still, it might be weird kissing someone that was basically his sister. He hadn’t even asked Ino out in… what was it now six months? With a sigh, he leaned forward onto the desk resting his head against it. “Guess I’m over her?” 

The Uchiha grunted, eyes still locked on the outside world

It was a bit weird realizing it. But there it was, he a teenage boy on the throngs of puberty was now completely without romantic interest. Which meant it was time to as Kiba put it, find a new prospect. 

This was followed by a realization that the girls in his class just weren’t his type. Most of them were Sasuke-fangirls which wasn’t the biggest turn off in the world. But a large chunk of them were just so…. Not his type. Like they were nothing more than background characters. It was bad when the queen of wallflowers stood out more than most of his class. 

Hinata wasn’t bad per say, but she came with a lot of baggage. Just going to the Hyuuga mansion to pick her up was enough to drive any boy away. 

Yep, looks like he’d just have to wait and find some nice civilian girl to fall in love with. A lot like his father did. After all, there was no one worth dating in his class except for Ino and at the rate she was going she’d be off the radar eventually. Apparently, Sasuke nodded at her the other day. 

Whatever the hell that meant. 

Yep, there were absolutely no interesting girls in his class. 

“Sakurai!” A beam of sunshine and positive energy burst into the room with the same accuracy and annoyance as the first rays of the sun to piece his curtains and wake him up on the days he got to sleep in. She was short, had a raspy voice, a complete lack of tact and feminine grace, and she wasn’t cute at all. In addition to that, she had no concept of personal space, volume, and for some ungodly reason out of all the boys in their class she chose Sakurai to be the one she had the biggest crush on. “Good Morning!” 

Sakurai tried to ignore the living sunshine that called itself Naruto Uzumaki but again that was like trying to ignore the sun on a Saturday morning when it was shining right in his face. And of course Naruto sat right next to him looking as pleased as could be. 

“How are you today?” Naruto reached over and hugged him around the waist, burying her head into his shoulder, getting her nasty hair grease all over his shirt. Another reason that made Naruto undateable. She had the worst hygiene, she always felt sticky and her hair always felt like it was covered in sweat. 

She looked up at him with her only redeeming feature. Those blue eyes that could make the sky green with envy held an ocean’s worth of emotion behind them. “Oh come on Sakurai, the too cool for this attitude doesn’t suit you, unlike that prick Sasuke.” 

Said prick gave another annoyed grunt right behind them. “Shut up loser.”

It was odd, out of all the girls in the class the only one that could get any of the Uchiha’s precious attention (Negative) was Naruto. And they fucking hated each other. “Shut up Loser.” 

Their hatred was what had caused Sakurai to start sitting next to Sasuke. In hopes that it would Keep Naruto away. Might as well have tried to get the sun to set by putting the moon in the sky. It only caused him a daily headache. 

“You got something to say Prick? Cause I’ll fight you right here right now bastard!” Another flaw. Naruto had a habit of being very vocal with a poor understanding of when she should back down. Or when to stay down for that matter. When they were younger every time she spared and got her ass kicked she wouldn’t surrender. It’d be admirable if she wasn’t so annoying about it. 

Still, the only way to get Naruto to shut up was to actually talk to her. More specifically she hung off of his every word. Hopefully, their sensei wouldn’t catch this and make him tutor Naruto. He could barely keep up with his own training outside of class, there was no time for him to make Naruto into less of an idiot. No matter how much better the world would be for it. 

“I’m fine Naruto,” he forced a smile, pressing an arm against her shoulder to pry the girl off of him. It was like removing a band-aid. The girl could not take a hint. He was not interested in her. “But do you remember our talk about personal space?”

“Oh right!” She chirped, arms snapping to her side and a cheerful expression on her face. She hummed back and forth the slightest bit of pink staining her cheeks. “I’m sorry Sakurai, I keep forgetting you get embarrassed easily.”

It sounded like she was trying to whisper. Which meant that she wasn’t shouting for once. 

“It’s really cute, one of the many reasons why I love you.” There it was again, the damn blonde threw that word around like it was as light as the air used to breathe it. Another problem, Naruto thought that everything he did was cute in some way or another. From telling her to piss off, to blushing. Didn’t matter it was cute. “So what are you having for lunch today?”

By that, she meant what was she going to mooch off of him for lunch today. He fed her once on their first day of the academy. And like a stray cat, she kept coming back for more. It wasn’t even about being nice, he just didn’t want to take the extra effort to throw away the food he wasn’t going to eat. 

Come to think of it, that act of kindness might be what caused her to fall in love with him. Great. 

“Did you forget your lunch again?” Less forget more couldn’t afford it. Why did he have to front the cost of Naruto’s bottomless gut? No really where did that girl keep it all. She could probably eat her weight in ramen a day and not change in the slightest. 

Naruto giggled a noise that grated his nerves like a maniacal laugh. Naruto pulled out two, not one but two, bento boxes from somewhere and sat them on the table. “I actually brought you a bento box.” 

“Did you buy it?” 

“No, I made it by hand.” 

That was worse. He did not trust this dirty little girl touching his food in the slightest. Besides he had his own. Wait where was that? It wasn’t with his stuff. Crap he left it at home didn’t he. Yep, it was sitting right there on the countertop. This is what happens when he has a zit the size of Sasuke’s ego on smack dab in the middle of his forehead. 

This was the first time a girl had brought him a Bento. Something that always had a soft spot in his heart. There was something so classic about the gesture that sent a tingle down his spine. One that changed to dread when he realized it was Naruto of all people offering him a bento. Oh well, Food poisoning wasn’t that bad of a way to die. “Let me see what you made.” 

“Oh ho ho? Curious are you? well, behold!” Naruto opened up the bento with a flourish. It wasn’t as horrendous as he would have thought. It looked edible but not mouth watering so. Most importantly nothing was spoiled and it smelled fantastic. Plus there were some of his favorites in there. “Only the best for my Sakurai.” 

“We’re not dating.” 

“I know.” She smiled way to easily, but it lacked the usual intensity it normally did. For starters, it didn’t look like she was trying to show off every single one of her teeth. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t give you a bento right?” 

She had kicked puppy dog look down to a T. 

“Fine,” He groaned out, turning his attention to Iruka as their teacher entered the room. “I’ll eat your Bento if you want.” 

From behind he heard Sasuke give his usual annoyed grunt, finally tearing his attention away from the window.

Naruto could reach a level of happy achievable by few whenever he did something she liked. It was also when she was the most peaceful. But she still squirmed like a worm, wiggling back and forth causing her ridiculous twin tails to wave back and forth as she hummed a happy tune. If she was anybody but Naruto it would be unbearably cute. But on Naruto it’s cuteness was severely diminished. 

Still made her heartwarmingly cute. 

XXXX

Sakurai stared at the Bento box in front of him. It still smelled good. But the presentation was lacking. Weren’t girls that liked boys supposed to put like girly hearty stuff in the bento? Or atleast his face. He’d totally eat his own face if a cute girl made it. Probably not if Naruto made it. 

Why was he about to eat this again? Oh right. He was hungry and it was food. 

“Well, what do you think?” 

“Think about what I haven’t eaten it yet.”

“About your face!” Naruto scooted closer to him so that her hips touched his own, her head resting on his shoulder. She pointed at the bento with a dirty fingernail. “See, in the rice, these two peas are your eyes, the pink stuff (What’s it called?) is your lips and hair. And that giant field of rice is your forehead.” 

He really should have seen that coming. 

The Uchiha from behind them snorted. Which was the closest thing he ever gave to a laugh? Why was he here again?

“Was this whole thing a set up to make a joke about my giant forehead?” He got enough of that from Ino. 

She snapped back to her own sitting position eating a piece of rice with her fingers. “Noooo, okay maybe a little bit. But besides, I think your forehead is cute! If you weren’t so tall I’d try to kiss it.” 

“I’m not tall you’re just short.” 

“Hey, now you’re being mean! I’m not short I just haven’t grown yet! Just you wait one day I’ll be a super tall and hot babe that you’ll want to make your wife. Just think about it Sakurai, I’m going to be the hottest and bestest Hokage ever.” 

Sasuke choked on his food. 

“Pfft, if what if I want to be the Hokage and I want to marry a short civilian girl that can cook.” 

“Hey! I can cook! Just give my Bento a taste!” As usual, she ignored any mention of him ever being interested in anybody else. There was no way in hell that he was going to Marry Naruto. She just wasn’t his type. 

“Fine.” He pinched a bit of the food that wasn’t shaped like his face, once again cursing how Naruto could forget chopsticks. It was good. Really could actually. “Not bad Naruto, You sure you didn’t have help with this?” 

“Well, Ayame has been teaching me how to cook better but I made it by myself! Do you like it? I can make one for you.” She paused counting on her fingers. “Uhh Twice a week!” 

Right. No parents meant that Naruto was frequently dirt poor. Great now he felt guilty eating Naruto’s food. “Don’t worry about it Naruto, you shouldn’t spend your money on me.” 

“But I wanna!”

“Look, every once in awhile is okay, but really, you should save what you can.” 

“Yay! Thank you, Sakurai! I promise you won’t regret this! Now I can carry out my plan of getting you addicted to my cooking so you’ll have no choice but to date me!” 

“I take it back never do this again.”

The Uchiha choked.


	2. Glasses!

Sakurai considered himself to be a patience boy - though the validity of that statement was quickly challenged by his mother, father, and Ino the moment he even considered boasting about it - capable of studying for hours on end to make sure that he knew the answer. Time that might have been better spent actually training given by how often he got laid on his ass by his classmates. 

Especially Sasuke. 

But there was a limit to his patience, which apparently was the third time Naruto stopped studying to balance a pencil between her lips and nose. It was only a matter of time really until Iruka discovered the three facts that he had been dreading for over a year now. Those being, that he had excellent grades, that Naruto had poor grades, and that Naruto listened to him better than she did anybody else.

 

But even he could only maintain Naruto’s interest for so long when covering boring topics. 

He just had to agree to Iruka’s request to tutor Naruto in exchange for extra credit, Ino was right, he was a teacher’s pet. She was also right about Naruto being an unteachable idiot and that he was going to be bald by the time he was fifteen if he tried to teach her. He liked his glorious head of pink hair!

“Naruto,” He snapped his fingers in front of her face. “You’re not paying attention anymore are you?” 

She flopped down onto the park bench that was serving as their impromptu classroom, having been kicked out of the library barely ten minutes into their tutor session. They weren’t even being that loud. “I’m sorry Sakura, I know I should but this is just so confusing and stuff!” 

It was basic chakra theory, the stuff that they all used on a daily basis for jutsu and well, anything even remotely ninja related. Perhaps it was time to switch topics. “Alright, you seem more like a doer than a thinker.” 

Naruto just hummed in agreement, a dopey smile on her face as he scooted closer to her and pulled out a math book. The smile vanished when the book hit the table. “Math? That’s like even more thinking! It makes my head hurt and the problems make no sense.” 

“Don’t worry Naruto, I’ll work you through them okay?” At Least that way some progress would be made, and hopefully at the end of it they’d make progress and he could go back onto his day of pretending that Naruto did not have a giant crush on him. 

“Fine,” she sounded anything but happy. she grabbed the book, sliding it over to her and holding the pen like it was a knife like she was going to stab the paper with words. Naruto’s lips twisted over and over again switching between various degrees of frustration. “What do I do?” 

This was going to be like pulling teeth, wasn’t it? “Alright Naruto, start with problem one.” 

She glared at the paper. “Which one?” 

Yep, pulling teeth. He pointed to the math problem. It was basic algebra, even someone like Naruto should be able to solve it. “This one.” 

He might have growled more than said that. 

Naruto’s face contorted as she bobbed up and down in front of the page, moving side to side like the answer was hidden behind the page if she didn’t move it. It was almost like she couldn’t read it. Wait. 

“Naruto, you do know how to read right?” He did not get paid enough to teach this girl how to read. He wasn’t getting paid at all but that was beside the point. 

Naruto’s face turned bright red and all frustration came out as a squeal. “What No! I can read and stuff! It’s just that the books are all blurry and stuff.” 

“Wait, the books blurry?” Sakurai found himself double checking it to make sure there wasn’t something wrong with his book - Naruto’s was destroyed beyond recognition - but everything was fine. 

“Yea they always are,” She was blushing up a storm right now. “Don’t make fun of me because I couldn’t figure out the trick!” 

“Trick? What trick?” Sakurai looked towards the book once more, then towards Naruto’s blushing face. 

Naruto began to twiddle her fingers like Hinata did if he so much as looked in the girl's direction. It might have been cute if Ino did it, but on Naruto, it was just another twitch of a girl that couldn’t sit still. “You know, the trick to reading the super blurry stuff, I couldn’t figure it out so.” She drifted off averting her gaze from his. 

 

“And you were too embarrassed to ask for help so you just pretended like you could do it?” Naruto nodded, biting her lip eyes staring at the ground. At some point, her hands had found his shirt and were clutching at the hem. That all but confirmed it. “Naruto have you ever had your eyes checked?”

 

Panic spread across her face replacing the blush with a paleness as her color drained. “No! What’s that? Is there something wrong with my eyes!? Am I going to go blind?” 

“No, nothing like that, but I think you might need glasses.” Sakurai stood from the bench brushing off his pants as he did. Iruka should still be in the building, which meant it was the perfect time to unload Naruto on him. 

“What? But I don’t want glasses! I’ll look like a nerd!” Naruto whined falling onto the table and letting out a grunt.

The Uchiha grunted in response. 

“Shut your mouth you stupid Uchiha!” Naruto snapped, all her bravado coming back full force. 

“At least I can read loser!” Sasuke gave her the briefest look up from whatever book he had been reading. 

Why was he even here? Shaking his head Sakurai grabbed Naruto by the arm pulling her up. “Come on, let's go talk to Iruka, and don’t worry I’m sure you’ll just get a pair of reading glasses or something.” 

Naruto kicked and screamed the whole way. 

XXXX

The next day was just like any other. Sasuke sat at the window looking out at the world as Ino failed to get his attention. Everything was as it should be. Any moment now Naruto would come in like a storm and set everything to hell. She had that effect on people.

But this time she came in like the moon hiding behind the clouds. Hidden, and barely noticeable. She sat down next to him like she always did, but without the hugging and shouting and pulled out a thin black box. She was like the moon coming out from behind the clouds, bright, and beautiful. 

Not that he found Naruto beautiful, at least not like Ino was. It was just with those black box framed glasses perched on her nose Naruto was incredibly, “Cute.”

The Uchiha grunted in agreement.

Naruto turned on them, looking over the top of her glasses as tears began to pour in her eyes. “Don’t laugh Sakurai! I don’t want you to make fun of me either. I only have to wear them when I’m reading and in class!” 

“I wasn’t laughing at you,” He held up both hands, feeling his cheeks redden at Naruto’s closeness. Apparently, he had a thing for glasses, especially if they made Naruto look actually attractive. Add to it a single ponytail like Ino wore and that would be a potent combination. 

“Really?” She sniffed sitting back down, pushing her glasses back up. Okay, that was just way too cute when paired with Naruto’s pout. 

“Honest Naruto, if anything those glasses look really good on you.” 

She squeaked. Her face flushed and her ears began to turn red, she shrunk away trying to take up as little room as possible as her hands rested on the seat between her knees. Through her eyes kept darting away from his a soft smile was on her face. “Thank you, Sakurai.”

Damn, That was one hell of a smile.

Equipped with the ability to actually read Naruto’s grade went up, not enough to move her out of the bottom of the class, but up all the same.


	3. TEAM

He really should not have been surprised. Actually, he wasn’t. Not at all, if anything it was the most unsurprising thing that could have happened that day. Even his toast being slightly to toasty was more of a surprise than this. 

It was so predictable he could have mouthed the words as Iruka spoke them. 

“Team Seven, Sakurai Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha.” 

Upset of the century. Well at least for Ino, but there was no way that she was going to end up on anyone's team but Shikamaru’s and Choji’s. 

Sasuke didn’t appear to care in the slightest, which was normal. And Naruto was brimming with happiness, which was expected, she was on a team with the boy she liked and the next closest thing to a friend she had in the form of the angry Sasuke. What did surprise Sakura was his own feelings on the matter, he was more happy than annoyed to be on their team. 

“Iruka-sensei?” Sakurai could feel the question bubbling in the back of his throat. He couldn’t stop it. “Are our teammate assignments based off of our current seats?” 

Iruka looked down at his papers, eyes narrowed, then he looked up, they widened. And again. And once more for good measure as his face began to turn red. Iruka coughed shuffling the papers. “I assure you that is purely coincidence, but good eye Sakurai.” 

Uh-huh. On the list of crap, he did not believe; that was on the top. But, there was no reason to press the issue. 

After the teams were formed and Iruka left various Jounin continued in one by one collecting their new charges. Except for them. They stayed behind. It was fine, their sensei was just a few minutes late. Okay, a lot late. Okay very late. And they were entering the realms of went out for a pack of cigarettes and never coming back. 

“Gaah! Where is he?” Naruto groaned slumping down in her seat beside him. This was bad, she was entering maximum levels of boredom territory. Which was good for pretty much no one. 

“So, Naruto, I don’t mean to be rude.” The girl perked up at that bouncing up from her slouched position to sitting as proper as she could be, shoulders back, large blue eyes on him. Dammit, why did she have to look so happy whenever he talked to her. Even if it was night getting that response out of someone. “But how are you here? Didn’t you fail?” 

“Oh! That’s actually really cool!” And here was Naruto’s story mode. “You see I didn’t really fail, well I did, but not as bad as I thought, you’re too good of a study buddy to let me fail. Instead, Mizuki-sensei wanted me to fail so he could use me.” 

Use her? Use Naruto? That naive little girl. “What did he do to you?” He didn’t mean to say that through gritted teeth as his fists balled into tight fists. He might not like Naruto like that but she was still technically his friend. In the same way, the cat that followed him home sometimes was technically his pet. 

“Oh, he made me steal a scroll,” She smiled like it was the most casual thing in the world. “He said if I learned a jutsu from it then I could become a ninja. But it was all a lie because he wanted to steal the scroll and blame me for it, but Iruka-sensei showed up and we beat the snot out of him. And then he made me a genin, this is his headband to isn’t that awesome!?” 

“Wait, you stole a scroll? Which one?”

“The one the Old Man Keeps in the vault.” That could be any number of scrolls, but if it had Jutsu in it was probably important. 

“Okay, how’d you get it from the Hokage?” Sakurai asked, still trying to process Naruto’s story. She wasn’t the kind to lie to him. Maybe embellish, but not outright lie. 

Naruto gave a smile overflowing with mirth, one that Sakurai would never trust in a million years. Though he might enjoy it. “Oh, I have my ways.” 

“Fine, then did you learn a jutsu?” 

The Uchiha grunted in some vague form of curiosity. 

“Oh, yea! It’s super awesome and cool! Wanna see it?” Naruto jumped up crossing her fingers, eyes sparkling with nothing good. She could barely contain her excitement. 

Sakurai looked around the room, sure the academy was sturdy, but there probably wasn’t a structure around that was completely Naruto proof. “Does it explode?” 

“What no! More like a pop. Here just let me show you.” Before he could protest Naruto took in a breath and shouted the jutsu her voice crackly with excitement. “Multi-shadow-clone-Jutsu!” 

Sakurai felt his eye twitch. Great. Just what the world needed. More Naruto. 

In the blink of an eye, the room was filled to the brim with about one hundred and twenty two Naruto’s all giggling at him. 

The Uchiha gave an impressed grunt, and Sakurai couldn’t help but agree. 

XXXX

Sakurai’s first impression of their sensei was that he was a lazy judgemental bastard, that was probably only alive because he was late arriving for his appointment for death. Not that he would ever say that out loud. He was still their sensei after all.

Wow, maybe Ino was right. He was a bit of a teacher's pet. 

Still, this was their sensei? This silver-haired man that had most of his face covered like he was some plague victim whose first words were that they annoyed him? What happened to the whole excited to be a teacher vibe the other jounin had? 

“Right then, so why do you all introduce yourselves?” The man had dragged them up to the rooftop and was leaning against the railing looking bored out of his mind. The man not only had resting bitch face but resting bitch voice as well. 

“Umm, what do you mean? Can you give us an example?” The practiced student inside of him still demanded to be respectful and clarify things.”

The man sighed. “Right, well I’m Kakashi Hatake, My hobbies, well I have many hobbies, I like many things, and dislike others, and my dream for the future, well I don’t really have any. Alright, hyperactive blond girl that can’t sit still why don’t you go?” 

They only learned his name though.

“All right! My Name is Naruto Uzumaki! Let see, my likes are Sakurai! Ramen, and if I ever got both of those at the same time I’d be super happy.” Naruto looked at him smiling, in all his teenage wisdom Sakurai picked up on that hint. Maybe he should eat ramen with Naruto one of these days. “I dislike the time it takes for Ramen to cool down, and my new glasses they make me look like a dork.”

Adorkable. 

“My dream for the future is to become a kick-ass babe, marry Sakurai, and become the Hokage!” 

“You’re still on about that?” Sakurai felt his cheeks burn. 

“Alright,” Kakashi drawled. “Future Husband of the Hokage why don’t you go?” 

“Please don’t call me that. My name I Sakurai Haruno. I like reading.” And eating Naruto’s bento’s, ponytails, glasses, blondes, pretty girls, basic teenage boy stuff. But nobody here needed to know that. “I dislike I don’t know really, I guess lazy people? And my dream for the future is to become a decent ninja and settle down?”

“With me!” 

“I didn’t say that!” 

The Uchiha simply grunted.


	4. MEDIC!

“Honestly you three are fucking idiots.” 

“Language!” Kakashi moaned from his bed. Wounds; broken arm, sprained ankle, and a minor evisceration. Chakra depletion was on the list as well but that was how their sensei operated. 

Naruto gasped from her bed, a day ago she was looking the worse of the three but now she looked ready to get injured again. “I didn’t know you could swear Sakurai.” 

The Noble Uchiha, wounds: severe blood loss and chakra depletion, grunted from his bed giving what might be the closest thing to a thank you, Sakurai, would ever get from him. 

“No, really, because of you guys and being prone to injury - probably because of two idiots I know that always have to take the hardest most dangerous mission they can because anything less than that is beneath them - I’ve had to start studying medical ninjutsu just so you all wouldn’t die of infection.” Sakurai ran a hand through his pink hair and glared in their general direction. Ever since they completed that mission with Zabuza - barely - it’s been one dangerous mission after the next. 

“And you’re an awesome doctor Sakurai!” Naruto cheered from her bed, giving him a thumbs up and a smile that on anybody else would have been worth a million dollars. But on Naruto, it was about a buck fifty. Mostly because she gave so many of those smiles he could see them when he blinked. 

Removing his ponytail, Sakurai turned away, his cheeks were burning probably from some kind sickness he got from dealing with this idiots. Yep, that was it, he was allergic to idiots. “Well, it’s not like I did it just for you or anything.” 

She kept smiling at him. Damn that smile. 

“Your teammates are right Sakurai.” Kakashi drawled, flipping a page through that ever-present book of his. “You have a real talent for medical ninjutsu, I’d recommend a career in it.”

“I’m not going to house calls for you.” he was twelve! Why did he already feel like he was too old for this shit?

“I’m being serious here,” Kakashi turned a page. Of course, he was being serious, he was always serious when that orange book was out. “You are a natural genjutsu type, but you managed to apply that to Medical Ninjutsu with your own talent.” 

“I just like to read.” Great, now his cheeks really were hot. Praise from Kakashi was just rare enough to be worth something when he said it. “And I’d like a mission where our lives aren’t constantly on the line.” 

“Hey, why don’t you pick the next mission!” Naruto chirped from her bed, flailing her still bandaged arm like it hadn’t been sprained and dislocated yesterday. “That way we can relax and do something boring.” 

“I’d like to relax as well.” Kakashi ran a hand along his chin, flinching at the motion. “Okay Sakura, the next mission will be yours to choose.” 

“Oh, uhh thank you?” 

“No problem.” Kakashi smiled. “Now you can make it up for us by taking Naruto and getting us something to eat, I don’t think me or Sasuke are capable of traveling today.” 

Sasuke gave a groan.

XXXX

Despite being a better fighter than him, and despite being a ninja. Naruto was at the end of the day the clumsiest girl he had ever met. She could trip on nothing, or walk into a glowing pole like a moth drawn to a flame. This meant that injuries during training weren’t just common. They were expected. 

As to how Naruto wasn’t dead yet was a universal mystery, that he was far too lazy to figure out or his dumb blonde friend was simply too stupid to know how to die. No wait, that was being cruel, she was his teammate. Naruto wasn’t that bad, she was just… Simple? Brash? Naive? Reckless. Ahh, there we go, reckless. She was just a reckless clumsy adorkable girl that loved him. 

At least half of those things were bad, probably more. But she was growing on him. 

As a friend. 

“Do you have everything you need?” Sakurai, stared at the bag Naruto insisted on carrying, it was overflowing with a variety of the stuff that food was made out of - he couldn’t cook - courtesy of Kakashi’s pilfered wallet. He was going to call that a medical bill.

“Uhh,” Naruto looked down at the bag, her face scrunching up to peer inside the bag. No doubt some mental list was rattling inside of her head. It was almost cute how her nose twitched when she was in thought. “I think-woah!” 

There was her triponnothingitous acting up again. Yet by some miracle, she managed to keep all the groceries in the bag. Still, he was at her side in a moment, her pant leg was torn, and a bit of blood gathered from a light scrape, knowing Naruto the wound would heal in a few hours. Still, he had to ask. “Are you okay?” 

“Yea I’m fine,” She smiled at him, all teeth and gum. She hefted up the groceries, “See? I still got them all!” 

“I asked if you were okay,” He growled, rummaging through his pack. It was a good thing that once you passed a first aid test medical supplies for field dressing were provided upon request. The Hokage was more than understanding when he requested an extra ration of the stuff. “Not if the groceries were okay. Now hold still, let me wrap your most recent injury.” 

He couldn’t do a lot with jutsu yet, even cleaning up a scrape was technically beyond him. Sure he could try, and Naruto would probably be a willing test subject, but conventional means would be more effective. At least until he learned more about it. 

“Hehe, okay.” Naruto giggled, offer him her leg like she was a princess expecting a show. A smile showed through her bit lip and a blush highlighting her whisker marks. 

“What’s with that look?” He blew the hair out of his face, it was getting long, he should get it cut soon, or start wearing a ponytail. Could he pull off a ponytail? Maybe Ino would know. Would Naruto like a Ponytail? Not that her opinion mattered or anything. Naruto would probably like him if he was bald. 

Naruto shrugged, wincing as he tied the bandage tight around her scrape. “It just makes me really happy when you pay attention to me like that.” 

Ouch. That was almost so cute and sweet it hurt. 

“It’s not like I do it just for you or anything, I’d do it for Sasuke and Kakashi too.” If they ever tripped while walking on a flat street. 

“Still,” Her smile stayed but her eyes fell. “It makes me feel special.” 

“You are special.” Sakurai mumbled under his breath. He went to look away but Naruto gave a squeal and gasp, face lighting up like a firework. Oh shit. He said that out loud. She had the wrong idea! “It’s not like just anybody can trip in the middle of a road.” 

“Sakurai!” Naruto whined her face falling, a cute - it wasn’t cute - pout on her face. “You don’t have to be so mean you know.”

“Come,” He offered her a hand up. Her hand, despite all the filth on it felt smooth and warm. And under the callouses actually rather soft and interesting to touch. It was probably just a girl thing. He pulled her up with great ease her smile returning. “I’ll help you carry the groceries.” 

For the next twenty minutes, Sakurai suffered people pointing and whispering saying that they were such a cute young couple as he carried one handle of the groceries, and Naruto the other handle, sharing the burden. Naruto was all smiles. 

“Hey, Naruto,” Sakurai asked as they entered the building they had been using to recover in. “Why do you like me?”

“I don’t.” He saw her smile twitching.

“You’re going to do the whole ‘I don’t like you because I love you’ line aren’t you?” 

“Aww! You’re not fun Sakurai!” She pouted even as the narrow hallways forced their shoulders to touch. “But I just like you because you’re Sakurai.”

“That’s it?” 

“That’s it!” There was that smile again. It was more infectious than any disease and could melt the polar ice caps. “But there’s a lot of stuff I like about you like you’re tall, you’re hot, you’re really super nice, you’re smart, you feed me sometimes, and a bunch of others stuff. Plus.” 

“Plus?” He asked raising an eyebrow, his face hot with the praise. Even if it was from Naruto, it was still nice. 

She struck as fast as lightning. Taking the groceries from him and placing her lips on his cheek. It burned. It burned hot than any sunburn he had gotten, hotter than Sasuke’s fire jutsu. It left his entire body standing on a wires edge. “That’s a secret.” 

Sakurai stood there frozen as a snake in the Arctic. So that was what a girl’s lips felt like. And that’s what a kiss on the cheek felt like. It was so, so, so pure. He needed to get a girlfriend. 

One that wasn’t blond.


	5. Festival!

How the hell did it come to this? He was a ninja trained to beat the shit out of bad guys, capable of dressing and setting a wide assortment of wounds. And yet, here he was standing on a bridge in the middle of a summer festival dressed in clothes that were probably more expensive than anything he owned. 

And he was getting paid for it. 

True to their word his team had allowed him to pick the mission. A simple mission that was pretty much babysitting some princess. Naturally Said princess hated Naruto at first, then two and a half hours later they were best friends. Somehow all that had led to him - for some reason it had to be just him - escorting Naruto around the festival in order to drop off a package to the boy that the princess was in love with. 

Sakurai tapped his foot on the bridge, flinching eyes straining to spot Naruto in the sea of people that were coming his way. Why did they agree to meet up at dark on a bridge? Why did he even agree to this in the first place? This smelled like way too much like a date with Naruto. 

Might as well just get it -

“Sakurai!” Naruto bounced out of the crowd clad in a soft blue Kimono. The only reason that he could even tell it was her was the way she spoke his name and the whisker marks on her cheeks. Beyond that, it was like he was looking at a whole new person. She looked clean for once, and her normally greasy hair looked soft and silky to the touch. It was like years of grim had been taken away to reveal a cute girl. 

She had the slightest bit of makeup on as well, just some orange eyeshadow that made her eyes really pop in the dark.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, they would not let me go! But look!” She held up her arms clutching her sleeves, her wooden sandals clacked on the bridge as she spun around for him. “They did all this for me! What do you think?” 

“You look super cute Naruto.” Especially the way she had her hair down, flowing down her back like liquid sunshine that was only highlighted by ten million gigawatt smile. Her cheeks were stained the slightest bit of red. 

Naruto beamed at him. “Thanks, Sakurai! You look pretty hot too! Now come on! Let’s go enjoy the festival.” 

“We’re on a mission.” Technically at any rate. “Can we please focus on-”

The radio in his ear buzzed, Kakashi’s dull voice coming into his ear like his sensei was right behind him. “The target has yet to arrive, act natural, enjoy the festival.” 

Of course. Sakurai looked to Naruto her happiness would be an epidemic, and might even be the cure for depression in the way that a concentrated dose of two hundred puppies would be. With a sigh he allowed himself to smile at her - just because he was smiling did not mean he was happy that he was smiling. “Okay fine, are you ready to-”

She hooked her arm under his and pulled him towards one of the food stands. “First we should try the Takiyaki stand, then after that let’s go try and play some of those festival games, oh and we can try on masks, and then we can go to the dance, and then we can find some cool place to watch the fireworks!” 

“Wow, that’s a five-step plan Naruto, I’m actually impressed.” 

She swatted his arm. 

“Hey! Sakurai! I can plan stuff out! Especially when I’m excited and I do awesome stuff all the time in fights!” Also known as an example of how dumb luck was an Uzumaki kekkei genkai. “Besides that’s not all, during the fight works you’re going to become so overwhelmed with emotion that you allow me to kiss you. On the Lips.”

Sakurai snorted. “Ha, Naruto the only way I’ll kiss you is if you’re the Hokage.” 

“Really!” Her face lit up like the sun. She grabbed his hand and forced their pinkies to hook. “You promise right? That when I become the Hokage I’m allowed to kiss you.” 

“Fine, I promise that you can kiss me all you want once you become the Hokage.” The odds of that happening were about as likely as Naruto turning into a grade A babe that would leave Ino in the dust. Or as likely as Sasuke being in love with Naruto. 

“Yes! Just wait! I guarantee you won’t regret this!” She hooked her arm under his again, walking like they were a couple that never quite made it out of the honeymoon phase. 

The food was bland, but Naruto ate it like it was the best thing ever. “You know, I bet you can cook better than this.” 

Naruto nodded chewing happily. “Maybe, but it means a lot that you bought it for me, Sakurai.” 

Why the hell was he so important to this short obnoxious little girl. Even if she cleaned up pretty, it’d all be ruined in a day when she started training again. “So what game do you want to play?” 

“Hmm, oh let’s try the goldfish catching game!” 

As with all things, not luck based Naruto had no skill in catching a goldfish. Even Sakurai struggled to get one onto the paper with resorting to using chakra. Still, he managed to catch one. It was a sickly creature that looked like it wouldn’t make it to the end of the night.

“You’re so awesome, Sakurai! Can I have him I promise to take care of him!” 

He felt bad that Naruto meant it. She would care for that fish until it died, which would be in five hours while they slept. “Uhh, sure If you really.” 

Full body hug and a million thank yous followed afterward. 

The other games proved to be even bigger rip offs and in the end, all he won for Naruto was a stuffed rabbit. Not even one of the big ones. A small one that went on a keychain. Still in Naruto’s eyes that made it all the better because now she could carry it with her always. 

A boom followed by the sky turning brilliant shades of green signaled the end of the festival. “Sorry Naruto, it looks like we won’t be able to try on masks or dance.” 

She snuggled into his arm like a cat, eyes focused on the fireworks. “That’s kay, I’m just happy to spend time with you Sakurai, this has been the best birthday ever.”

“Wait this is your birthday? I thought it was in October!” 

“It is,” Naruto allowed a sly grin on her face, never taking her eyes of the fireworks. “But you missed all of my other ones so I’m letting you make it up to me.” 

A buzz came from his earpiece. “Mission complete package has been delivered. Hope you enjoyed your date.” 

Moments later the radio buzzed again, the only sound that Sakurai heard over the fireworks was Sasuke grunting.


End file.
